Panthers Acquire Seth Jones from Blackhawks for Knight, First-Round Pick

Reports over the past few weeks have suggested that Jones was looking for a move out of Chicago, and while he may not have officially requested a trade, both parties were under the impression that a move would make the most sense. Jones expressed a great amount of frustration with the lack of progression with the Blackhawks, and moving to a stronger team seemed likely.

The Panthers are bringing in some more defensive help. After the departure of a few key defensemen over the past few seasons, they were a bit weaker on the back end, but certainly not struggling. Teams in the position of the Panthers are always looking to make an upgrade, and this is certainly a move that betters the team.

Jones Adds Great Two-Way Play

While Jones hasn’t necessarily lived up to his $9.5 million cap hit, he is still a very good option. The Blackhawks are retaining 25 percent of his contract, which will be for five more seasons. There haven’t been many positives to come out of Chicago this season, but Jones has been playing fairly well defensively on his own, and is on pace for 53 points this season.

The right side for Florida is led by Aaron Ekblad, and behind him, Dmitri Kulikov and Nate Schmidt have spent most of the season in the bottom-four spots. Jones is a significant upgrade on both, and while they each have their own role on a team, in the top-four is less than ideal.

Jones can play physical, good defensively, and pitch in offensively. He can be a very versatile defenseman, and the biggest knock on him at this point is his speed and agility. He hasn’t shown off the skating skills with Chicago that he had on display when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Blackhawks Keep Building for Future

After an offseason of adding veteran players, there was some optimism heading into the season and many hoped to see fast improvement with the team. It has been the complete opposite, and they are still in a spot that they need to build for the future. Adding Knight as the goaltender of the future is very promising, and the first-round pick is always a big help.

Knight has spent time in the NHL and American Hockey League (AHL) over the past few seasons, He has strong numbers in the NHL in parts of four seasons, and has been lights-out in the AHL. He has a cap hit of $4.5 million which expires after next season, and despite how long it feels like Knight has been around, he is only 23 years old. Considering the stats he has posted over his pro career, there is a ton of reason to believe he will be a huge part of the future for the Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks now have five first-round picks over the next three drafts, and they will be crucial pieces in advancing the rebuild.